Qatar uses Al-Jazeera as bargaining chip: WikiLeaks

Qatar is using the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other countries, US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks suggested on Monday.Despite the broadcaster's insistence that it is editorially independent, the channel is "one of Qatar's most valuable political and diplomatic tools," according to the cables.The Gulf state -- which last week controversially won the right to host the 2022 football World Cup -- adapts Al-Jazeera coverage to suit other foreign leaders, claimed the cables revealed in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

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Al-Jazeera journalists, including four foreigners, go on trial in Cairo Thursday for allegedly supporting the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood in a case that has sparked accusations Egypt is muzzling the media.

FIFA said on Wednesday that it had awarded Middle East and North Africa broadcasting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Al Jazeera, extending its existing deal with the Qatari channel.The rights deal covering television, internet and mobile transmissions in 23 countries or territories was the first to be signed for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, world football's governing body said in a statement.The value of the deal was not revealed.FIFA awarded Russia and Qatar respectively the right to host the event less than two months ago.

Bangkok (AFP) - Asia's Olympic chief ruled out rescheduling the 2022 Winter Olympics to avoid the Qatar World Cup on Thursday as moves gather pace to shift football's showpiece to a cooler time of year.

Sydney (AFP) - Football Federation Australia hit back on Friday at a FIFA report that alleged taxpayer money went to buy votes during its bid for the 2022 World Cup, insisting it conducted a clean bid campaign.

Berlin (AFP) - Qatar will not host the World Cup in 2022, according to Theo Zwanziger, the German member on the executive committee of world football's governing body FIFA."I think that at the end of the day the 2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar," Zwanziger said in an interview with Sport Bild Plus.

By Amena BakrDOHA (Reuters) - Broadcaster Al Jazeera called for vigils outside Egyptian embassies across the world on Thursday to press Egypt to free four of its journalists, three of whom have been charged with aiding a "terrorist organization".The three from al Jazeera's English-language television service - Peter Greste, an Australian; Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian-Egyptian national; and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian - were detained in Cairo on December 29.

TEL AVIV, Israel — State-of-the-art TV studios above an ancient Mideast port signal Israel’s arrival in a modern media landscape in which countries increasingly seek to broadcast their own perspective to the world.
Israel advocates have long alleged that their country is portrayed in an unfair and one-dimensional way by the international media, largely as an occupier of the Palestinians.